Lady Thunder put the “D” in Desert Hills, roll past Canyon View

Jordan Nielson of Canyon View moves toward the basket while being guarded by Jessica Mathis of Desert Hills, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 23, 2018 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — After a sluggish start, the Desert Hills girls basketball team rolled to a 54-28 win at Canyon View Tuesday night.

Canyon View senior guard Gissella Garcia scored off a steal two minutes into the game to give the Lady Falcons an early 2-0 lead. Three minutes later, with 2:53 left in the first period, Desert Hills senior Maddie Clark made a free throw to put the Thunder ahead 3-2. Shortly thereafter, Katelyn Philips made a 3-pointer to put Desert Hills ahead 7-4, and Canyon View wasn’t able to get any closer the rest of the way.

Cristal Elias of Canyon View moves along the baseline while being guarded by Maddie Clark of Desert Hills, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 23, 2018 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Up 11-4 after one period, the Lady Thunder outscored Canyon View 18-6 during the second quarter to take a 29-10 halftime lead. Canyon View managed just one field goal during the second.

“I thought we came out and played some good solid defense early on, and that led to some baskets for us,” said Desert Hills coach Ron Denos. Senior Jessica Mathis led the Thunder’s balanced scoring attack with 12 points, while Clark added 11. Juniors Philips and Rachel Myers each added eight points for Desert Hills.

Canyon View head coach Jaycee Slack-Barnhurst attributed the loss to her players lacking sufficient confidence in their offensive capabilities.

“We’re scared to win at this point,” she said. “We need to get our confidence back.

“We had a lot of turnovers and missed a lot of close-range shots, but we did play hard all 32 minutes.”

Senior Bryn Banks led the Lady Falcons with seven points, while Ashlyn Banks, Addy Newman, and Garcia each added four points. Canyon View, which made just seven field goals during the game, got the other half of its 28 points at the free throw line, converting 14 of 25 free throw attempts.

Desert Hills improved its Region 9 record to 3-3 with the win, while Canyon View fell to 1-5 in region play.

Desert Hills’ next game is at Cedar on Thursday. Canyon View will host Hurricane that same evening.

Hurricane 50, Snow Canyon 38

In other Region 9 action Tuesday, the Hurricane Lady Tigers won their third straight game, defeating Snow Canyon at Hurricane, 50-38.

Hurricane led by just one point at halftime, 23-22, but went on a 14-1 run during the third period to pull away from the Lady Warriors.

“That was the difference in the game,” said Hurricane head coach Franci Homer. “It was a great defensive effort by our team.”

Snow Canyon head coach Ryan Rarick agreed. “We had a terrible third quarter. Our defense let us down and we couldn’t find the basket offensively.”

Although Snow Canyon managed to outscore Hurricane in the final quarter, the damage had been done.

“We played hard in the fourth, but the hole was too deep to climb out of in time,” Rarick said.

Jayden Langford led Hurricane with 12 points. She also grabbed 10 rebounds and made five steals. Madi Hirschi added 11 points and Kylee Stephens contributed nine points for Hurricane.

Meanwhile, Snow Canyon was led by Tylei Jensen’s nine points, while Rachel Durante added seven.

Rarick singled out Jensen for her persistent defensive effort. “She shows an ability to hustle all game long,” he said, while also commending the solid play of Brielle Hoskins, who finished with five points.

Snow Canyon’s next contest is Thursday when the Lady Warriors host the region-leading Pine View Panthers at 7 p.m. Also that night, Hurricane will travel to Cedar City to face Canyon View.

Region 9 Standings
Pine View  5-1, 10-2
Cedar  4-2, 11-4
Hurricane  3-3, 8-8
Snow Canyon 3-3, 7-9
Desert Hills  3-3, 3-11
Dixie 2-4, 8-10
Canyon View  1-5, 4-12

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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